I was also there as a 16 year old, about to turn 17:
My group of High School friends, which had some Freshman college guys in it, usually would take someone to a concert on their birthday. My friend, Eric Britt, who later became a taper, couldn't go to the show due to work and I wound up being gifted his ticket after the group realized it was my 17th birthday the following day. (ticket stub says $8)
So we get to the Dallas County Convention Center, which we had been to two weeks prior for sold out Bruce Springsteen, and were a bit surprised to find the venue about half empty. We always bought balcony seats for smoking purposes at DCCC, so we were up there when Phil tells the crowd there is plenty of room on the floor and the venue gave permission for those of us in the balcony to go downstairs. When my group of four looked at each other questioningly, we decided to take the front row chairs folks had given up to go down to the floor. The main reason for this decision, I found out later, was I was so high on mushrooms and appeared to them to be too high to walk me through the crowd downstairs! In Texas in the late 1970's there was plenty of fresh psychedelic mushrooms gathered from dairy farms and we would take large amounts of them )Igloo coolers full) and brew a "tea" which we then drank. We rarely ate them "fresh" without some sort of "brewing". Unlike Jeff Liles, this was not my first Experience, so I didn't have a bad trip or freak out the people around me, but I was so high I absolutely do not recall 95% of the evening. What I do recall was listening to the band play Scarlet-Fire and ask my buddies when it would end, having never seen a band play in the jamming style of the Grateful Dead. We must have smoked 30 joints (of Columbian ) between us four. Then as we walked out I said out of my stupor, "Wow, that guy can sure play guitar". My friends burst out laughing as they had all known the music before we went having a copy of Terrapin Station and American Beauty in their apartment we High School kids would hang out in and smoke weed. I had never heard their music until that night. So when we got back to their apartment, they played me those two albums and as I came down I think I became a deadhead that night although I would not see them again until September 2 1980 in Rochester NY when I officially got "on the bus" with what has become a legendary show in Deadhead circles. The Dallas 1978 show is certainly NOT legendary and the audio record of it is pretty poor with only two entries on LMA. (h/t to my buddies, Skip, John, and David who took me to the show)
three stars for the recording, too bad the heavy hitter tapers skipped this show! ;-)
I also think they played Around and Around to close the show as it was the only tune I knew all evening.
PS- later in life as a Deep Ellum music junkie/taper I met and became acquainted with Jeff Liles-legendary Dallas music director, DJ and operator of night clubs in Deep Ellum TX, such as Trees and now the Kessler Theatre
The prior link to his story is broken, so here is the 2023 link:
https://www.dallasobserver.com/music/echoes-and-reverberations-the-night-of-the-tripping-dead-7067701

We’ve been blessed with SO MANY phenomenal shows on the Archive with incredible sound that we are spoiled rotten. While this recording quality isn’t the best, it is still fully listenable and there are some nice jams. Can you imagine being a super fan of just about any other band and being able to find a recording like this from 42! years ago? You’d likely be highly stoked! And, as a poster said below, it’s all we’ve got! So for these reasons and the fact they were jamming out in freakin’ Dallas 3 days before Christmas, I’m giving it 4 stars to balance things out a tiny bit.

This show includes an epic Scarlet - Fire, only diminished by the quality of it's recording, which is sub-par compared to most recordings of the day.

My recommendation would be to listen to this, but use headphones and some sort of EQ. Chrome has an excellent EQ extension called EARS. Install it and boost the treble and mids and you'll be set and will wonder what all the complaining about a perfectly excellent show is all about.

As for the encore, there was not one. According to a Dallas Morning News article on 12/25/1978, the band left the stage after the second set and did not return, much to the dismay of the small crowd that had assembled.

Finally, I do recommend reading Jeff Liles' account of his first Grateful Dead show at age 16, linked above or below or whereever.

Sadly, I missed this show. I was in Dallas that day, but I was 8 and was most likely asleep even as the band began to croon "Don't tell me this town ain't got no heart..."

I agree with someone who said the set list wasn't very exciting, at least the first set. The second set is actually pretty nice, though it ends rather abruptly in Wharf Rat.

Overall, I'm glad I bookmarked it, the jam between Scarlett and Fire is sweet. These interludes were some of the best things Donna brought to the band's sound.

yes it's a muddy recording, but it's all we've got.

Jerry definitely takes Scarlet out there !

They played Johnny B. Goode at the Fox as an encore. The Summit might not have had an encore. For this show it is unknown.

I was there. Although it's never shown up on any recordings or set lists, they did Around and Around near the end, I think NFA segued into it.

not an exciting setlist.

http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Rec/rec.music.gdead/2008-12/msg00513.html

Bad town, bad hair, bad pot, but it was still my first Dead show.
That started it.
I vaguely recognized "Eyes of the World" and a couple others.
My current wife does not care for the Dead, but she knows I do. She puts up w/ it.
Jerrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeee!

a 16-year-old's first Dead show - hysterical story:

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/2008/12/echoes_and_reverberations_the_3.php
or
http://tinyurl.com/dallasdead

there is no encore you can check below that where I went to.. it's normaly listed


http://www.dead.net/show/december-22-1978

If you look at some of the setlists for dates in this tour, such as The Summit in Houston and Fox in Atlanta, there are some dates that do not have an encore listed and some that do. Maybe someone can clarify whether this means the encore was not taped at some shows, is lost like Shakedown, or if they just decided not to play one on those nights. NFA->Wharf Rat is not the encore, because drums lead into NFA. Also, the tape is cu// at the end. I imagine it's that 'soft machine' which is the culprit ;)
This is still a tasty show, esp. the great jam in Scarlet->Fire. Pretty rare FTHOM too. There is good harmony during Wharf Rat, so things finish up strong.

Don't let the cuts scare you away from this 2nd set. The Scarlet>Fire is one of the very best, with a long and dreamy transition jam into an incendiary fire. Quality isn't perfect, but very listenable.

As for the poster who said that Wharf Rat is the encore, that's just plain absurd - NFA clearly segues into Wharf Rat. Some people just shouldn't post reviews...

the text file notes 3 missing songs. This is not true. The only missing song is Shakedown Street. The encore is Warf Rat.

Scarlet sounds back-of-the-room distant. Does this really go 15:50? Decent bounce to the rhythm, very hard to hear what Garcia is doing. I think he takes five turns before getting to the WITW verse. 5:48 the jam begins....